


Snape in the City

by hes5thlazarus



Series: Lazarus' Harry Potter Daydreams [4]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-03
Updated: 2020-10-03
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:29:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26798860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hes5thlazarus/pseuds/hes5thlazarus
Summary: Instead of dying, Snape moves to New York.
Relationships: Draco Malfoy & Harry Potter, Narcissa Black Malfoy/Severus Snape, Regulus Black/Severus Snape
Series: Lazarus' Harry Potter Daydreams [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1954336
Kudos: 8





	1. felix felicis

-After the war, Ginny convinces him to go through his parents’ vault and inventory everything. He finds his mother’s sketchbook, her unsent letters. In this life, he reads them.

-The idea that Snape could’ve been his father does not leave a bad taste in his mouth. It makes sense. He understands that Snape–as much of a shithead as he was–did play the role of strict, disciplinarian patriarch, and Lily’s diary reveals that his behavior in Hogwarts was much in line with his mother’s parenting style. He’s glad Snape’s not, though. It’d be a bit too ridiculous.  
  
-He finally gets an explanation to how his mother ended up with his dad: mostly to get back at Snape. Her notes in hiding were evidence enough that it was not enough for a marriage, though enough for sympathy and friendship.  
  
-He was surprised that his mother thought she was just a beard for James’ passion for Sirius. But it made sense. When he showed Hermione the diary entry–and sketches–she started laughing. “Harry, honestly, I swear you’re the last to notice anything sexual!”

-Ginny leaves him for Luna. He doesn’t mind, gives him more time to figure himself out. He goes on vacation to cope, but mostly to get away from Molly’s outrage. No wonder Charlie ran away all the way to Romania, he’s starting to get how the Weasley kids feel suffocated rather than loved.

-The Dursleys always wanted to go to Mallorca. He goes to New York instead.  
  
-He runs into Regulus Black buying groceries in the Gristedes in Greenwich Village.

-Regulus invites him to dinner with his flatmate, promising all explanations would be given.  
  
-Then his flatmate is Severus Snape, looking better than ever. And after dinner, everybody well-lubricated with drink (it’s not that kind of AU), they settle in the living room listening to The Ramones, as Snape tells stories about ridiculous shit Dumbledore pulled and stories about growing up with his mother and even touches on yes, uh your mother cheated on your father with me, I was rather disappointed to see you so obviously James’s. But really, I would have been a terrible father, could never have raised you, as a spy it would have made my position untenable–

-Harry notices Regulus twirling a half-empty beaker of Felix Felicis andw odners what the fuck his life has become, but he’s too drunk and luck-ridden to be particularly upset.

-”Dammit, Snape,” he slurs, “if you’d died I woulda named my son after you! Well…second son. Middle name.”

-The evening is winding down–well, it’s early morning now–and Snape walks him back to his hotel. They talk more seriously about the war, Snape’s bullying, and his mother’s unsent letters. Harry promises to mail them. Regulus regrets that he does–it sends Snape on a bender for three weeks.  
  
-Harry stays single for a good long time, though he does go on a few good dates with Parvati Patil (he’s discovering he’s not really interested in sex and dating), and hangs out more with Dean and Seamus and Neville now that Ron & Hermione are all wrapped up in each other. He’s surprised to find the guys never really liked Ron much, and no one liked Hermione–but both of them are both very defensive people, and Harry treasures them all the more for opening up to him.  
  
-Sundays are always Golden Trio time, for hiking and museums and libraries and caving and sometimes just watching the children’s movies that he and Hermione never got a chance to, that Ron’s so fascinated by.  
  
-Harry sends an owl to Regulus and Severus after after 9/11. Severus is working as a first responder, temperamentally unable to stay out of thick of it. He’s shaken–war flashbacks, etc. Harry gets a note from Narcissa Black politely requesting he not show up in person, and maybe sign his letters just “Harry,” and tendering her regret that the christening of their daughter Catherine Aquila Snape is so rushed by national tragedy that it is impractical to invite their international friends.

-He runs into Draco in Diurn Alley, looking lost in a baby items shop. Harry’s shopping for Ron and Hermione’s first child; to help out, Harry’s agreed to move in, since none of them want Hermione’s career to be slowed down, and Ron is taking night classes to get his muggle equivalencies, to prove to Hermione’s parents he’s not a wastrel working in a joke shop.  
  
-Draco holds up a pink onesie. “Imagine. A Snape in a pink onesie.”  
  
-Harry picks up a neon orange Chudley Cannons outfit, complete with flashing broomsticks, and very solemnly raises a Snapesque eyebrow. Draco starts to giggle.  
  
-Draco sticks to vibrant colors–”If she inherits her father’s complexion…and Blacks look good in everything.”–and Harry picks up his gifts for the newest Weasley. He sends the Snapes his baby broomstick. It triggers Snape pretty badly. Narcissa is annoyed. The baby cries, but it’s a baby, so that’s about all it does.


	2. outline

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> outline for a story that will never be written

-Opens with him and an old leather backpack and another army duffle bag entering the apartment Narcissa got him, being okay entering the empty house, and falling apart as soon as he turns the bathroom sink on.

-Questions to answer later: when did he find out Regulus survived? Are they friendly? What does Regulus think of his blood status? How do I develop Narcissa to the point where she is content living mostly like a muggle? (American wizards mostly live in the muggle world, except for specific cults)

-Explore Snape’s identity in a New York context: NYC is the second most segregated city in the US. What languages does he speak? I want him to be living in lower Manhattan–east or west? The Village or the Lower East Side? East Village, around a couple old Italian restaurants, struggling with the rent, everyone assumes he’s Italian or Jewish, depending on how much black he’s wearing. Are people confused by his accent? Does he come across as a New Yorker? (which is different than being an American)  
——–the Snapes were Catholic, Eileen is Irish, Tobias’ mother a Portuguese WW1 bride. [skulking in churches, lmao his reaction to Saint Patrick’s Day]  
+++++There has to be a scene where Regulus takes them to a Scorsese film.

-Snape is addicted to the Draught of Peace.

-He witnesses Lucius ’ execution, or at least fever-dreams it. Narcissa notes that he grieves more than she does.

-Art therapy: poetry

-He struggles financially, back to paycheck to paycheck middle class. Malfoy assets liquidated or stuck in trust until Draco’s probation is over–Narcissa loses it all, because she divorces Lucius before the execution.

-And Lily? They promised each other they’d move to New York when the war was over.

-Layers of possibility, he has a tenuous relationship with reality.

-He loves Narcissa for her ability to survive and to adapt with the elegance he lacks. Narcissa love him for his ability to adapt with angry humor, his sense of self. They turned to each other for dark humor and stability in survival.

-Andromeda and Teddy: do they visit once Severus is more stable? How does he react?

-Narcissa has to work. What does she do? (Charmsmithing? Curse breaking at the Met? Ah, cursed antiquities. Narcissa the archaeologist. Would she be the armchair kind?)

-The baby: Severus kicks the habit. Crack baby? They’re both working parents.

-Harry shows up at their door. Severus reacts very, very badly. The Golden Trio pretty stalk him. Sudden realization that they’re not above the law. Confronting Hermione about Marietta, Harry about his propensity to the throw Crucios. Ron’s the only one who hasn’t crossed an ethical line.

——Ron and Snape, Ron recognizes the same pattern of trauma as George, survivor’s guilt. Hermione goes more towards burying herself in efficiency, Harry (as the Dursleys taught him) pretends nothing is wrong.  
_______calming the baby down, when they sense their father’s incoming rage and guilt  
How do the three of them interact with Narcissa?

Ending: Catherine Snape at the Met after school, a Friday afternoon to herself, running into the Potters. Her parents said they’d meet her after work, around 6, they’re going to discreetly apparate. She trails the Potters, smalltalks about a painting (which? leitmotif) with Albus Severus. She is very much Severus’ daughter. Ends with her watching them all noisily leave.


	3. a bath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Narcissa and Severus take a bath.

context: they went to a party at a friend’s house in the Upper West Side, mostly magical, people talking about Voldemort over dinner depersonalized, joking about the Brits brought it down on themselves, trivializing that it was actually an 11 yr terror on the first run and a brutal dictatorship on the second, Severus sneers that of course dictatorships don’t happen in the West, rubbing his arm, almost causing a scene before Narcissa manages to deflect the conversation to talk about interventionalism, Rwanda, Bosnia. they’re both tense, Snape more disassociative than Narcissa, and Narcissa is trying to find a way to ground them both in the present

He settles in the chair, back to the window. A cool summer breeze rolls into the room, sirens blasting, a few teenagers walking down Saint Mark’s swearing, a car horn blasts the Godfather theme. Narcissa stands before him, slim and timeless in her glittering pleated dress. She should have been a flapper, she should have gotten that freedom.

“Take off your clothes,” she says.

He cocks an eyebrow. “As you insist.” Dress shoes that pinch his feet off first, pulling off socks. He sticks them back in the shoes, puts them aside, and begins untying his tie. Narcissa watches him, unmoving. He sets the tie on the coffee table, unbuttons his shirt, shrugs off the vest. He plays at his belt. This is not erotic. He wonders what point she will make, what catharsis she will try to induce. They have both been actors too long, they have read too much Greek tragedy.

Narcissa takes a step back, face still. He does not look at her as he stands up, undoes his belt, pushes his trousers to the floor and steps out of each leg. He feels ridiculous, eying the floorboards. He needs to give them a good scrubbing, when he is wearing something more than his pants.

Finally, he meets her gaze. She is steady. “Pants too.” Imagine Narcissa Malfoy–Black–talking about his pants! Ordering him to drop trou! He remembers Potter at the Lake, /who wants to hear me take off Snivelly’s pants?/, and does not flinch at the echo of memory. It kills whatever stiffening his dick was contemplating. He pushes his pants down and steps forward, resting his hand on Narcissa’s shoulder.

“What?”

Her eyes are level with an old burn from an exhausted botched Wolfsbane disaster, and she follows it up to the hint of a thin whipping scar right on top of his shoulder. His mother used to send him to the river to cut his own switches. That was how he first noticed Lily. Narcissa traces it with the edge of a nail, and then places her other hand fully on the new tissue of the snakebite, right at the jugular. She rests her head on his chest and drops her hands. He does not touch her.

“What?” he says again.

“Let me bathe you,” she mumurs.

Lily’s name is at the tip of his tongue, but he pushes the memory of her washing his hair in his kitchen sink, 1978, far away. “Narcissa,” he tries again. She raises her head, a slight smile on her face. She’s growing embarrassed. This sort of thing is easier in robes. Naked, he puts his hand on her shoulder, feels the heat radiating through her skin, and pushes the sleeve down. He repeats with the other.

“Careful, you’ll rip the dress,” she frowns slightly. He smirks at her. She’s ridiculous, she should have been an actor, or a playwright, such an aesthete. But he’s the one standing naked. “Let me bathe you. The returning hero.”

“Agamemnon?”

Narcissa sparks. “No-oo, Severus. Penelope and Odysseus.”

“It was the old nurse who gave him the footbath. Eurykleia.”

“Let me wash your scars away in peace.”

Severus begins to laugh, it catches rustily in his throat. He coughs, “You’re such a terrible poet, you should have been a Byronic hero–”

New York in the summer night is loud behind them. He unzips her dress. Narcissa says, “No, I shouldn’t’ve, I wouldn’t’ve survived. So let me wash your scars–”

And she does, setting him the tub, lavender oil making him dizzy, and rubs scar-healing ointment into his back, his neck, his chest: murtlap, freshly pickled, and something else, the lavender is making him blind. Then she towls him off and they go to bed, resting hot in the cool sheets, and the city swells around them as Severus drifts off to sleep. Their upstairs neighbor is having sex. They are not; it does not feel right, even for a dry kiss, he just wants her flesh around his, stretching his skin to fit more pliably.


End file.
